Dom's laptop is in Iran - Apology
laptopiniran.tumblr.com
laptopiniran.tumblr.com
Astroturfing round 2
"The innocent new owners of my laptop have been in touch and are mortified about the story and are keen to return the laptop.
Given the huge error of judgement on my part in sharing the story and failing to respect their privacy I have asked them to keep it by means of an apology."
So, the victim apologizes for shining the public light on the theft of their property. (In this case, even with the software, it's unlikely that the new possessor would have been identified without the publicity.) Furthermore, in lots of places prior theft invalidates later sale and transfer of ownership even if the illicit purchase occurred without mens rea. There's no insurance policy on counterfeit money either - in this case the current possessors (presumably) paid for a second-hand (high risk, possibly stolen) laptop. Buyer beware; they should absorb the loss and give it back (assuming the facts are as they seem, and it's not just one big astroturf).
http://laptopiniran.tumblr.com/post/47772239088/further-news
For it to be such an issue in the beginning and then not-so-much in the end is suspicious.
Laptop stolen, police report filed, laptop shows up in Iran, owner shames the people in possession of laptop, owner realizes he attacked the wrong person when readers and commenters pointed it out, owner realized the people in possession of the laptop are nice and now fells guilty, owner decides to give laptop to them as a nice gesture for the Internet to see.
The part that's not mentioned: how much compensation he received from the company that runs the tracking service. If its more than the laptop cost, the owner is still net ahead.
Does the service have a replacement guarantee or are you implying that this was a brand deal and he's being paid for the posts?